


Binary Sunrise

by threekisses



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Universe, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Dyad, One Shot, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Reylo - Freeform, Temporary Character Death, a celebration that we’re canon as much as it is a fix-it, bad unchecked prose, badly but still, ben solo deserved a life free of his pain, i love you so much, in my bad, now he has it, starts sad but gets better, this one’s for you ben solo, this ship made me write, unapologetic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21872080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threekisses/pseuds/threekisses
Summary: It was easier to not let her mind wander to what could’ve been, what hurts the most. His lost future, and hers. She had seen it, was it all just a ploy by the Force?Just another fix-it rolling through, I want to give ben what he deserved, a long life free of torment with his soulmate:’)It follows the ending of tros as closely as possible and I tried to make it fit the tone of the whole movie, nostalgia n all (so that we can all act like this is the real ending goodbye:’))
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 19
Kudos: 219





	Binary Sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> Hey this is my first fic ever so it’s probably very bad, i’m just so emo rn🤡

_Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there._  
\- Rumi

Ben Solo was alive. And he was trying to crawl out of the pit Palpatine had thrown him down. He didn’t know what was driving his legs to move and his arms to each up and drag himself higher other than the cold, empty bond that hung over him, ominous and waiting. Pain seared through him, he could tell that there was major damage to one of his legs, he couldn’t tell what else. Yet somehow, that made him climb with vigour, because he was _feeling_. He was feeling pain, yes, but these were wounds won in a battle he knew was right. Kylo Ren had cracked and crumbled but here was Ben, climbing to the anchor pulling him home, to the one being that now tethers him to life. 

“Rey?” He struggled out, but it was no use. The bond was cold as ice. This wasn’t the same as the way he felt torn apart growing up under Snoke and Vader, or rather Palpatine’s, voices. The feeling in his gut was as though half of him were missing, just devoid and non-existent. And somehow he knew then that that would be more painful than any wound anyone could ever inflict on him. 

Finally. His hand found purchase on the floor from which they fought the Emperor. He struggled up, his limbs burning with the effort and then he saw her. He dragged his way over to her, no thoughts for how much his leg hurt, or his ribs, or even his arm. _Please be unconscious_ , was all he thought over and over until he finally reached her. Rey. _His Rey_ , a thought that slipped into his mind like he hadn’t gotten so used to repressing it over the past year. As if he had scarcely dared to hope, for her, for even anything past the vision of her taking Kylo’s hand and ruling side by side. _She wanted that too_ , it pierced him like a knife as he finally reached her body.

Her eyes fixed on the battle in the sky finally ending, lifeless. With the last bit of strength in him he hauled her onto his lap and into his arms. He checked again for any hope, any sign of life. But nothing, nothing came. His hand found her waist, _I know what I have to do_ , an echo of Ren as he closed his eyes and called to the light, truly, for the first time. 

_Help me, please, anyone_ , he thought as he grappled for purchase on any thread that might still tether her to him, out beyond the planes of life and death. The bond between them flowed dimly in his meditation, _that’s something_. He clung to it and it helped him recall the feeling of Rey healing him, when all he felt in that moment was heartbreak. _Mother, please._

The warmth of healing swirled around his palm, as he felt his life force flow through Rey, into her veins, her bond fluttering like a startled heartbeat. He felt himself slipping, taking on her weakness as his own, his limbs suddenly felt so heavy but he’d never felt more alive. 

“You’re not alone.” His own words filled his mind in the voices of so many people he couldn’t recognise but knew to be Jedi, to be heroes, to be his family. His mother’s voice rang clearest, as if she would be there hugging him if he opened his eyes, Luke, his grandfather, Anakin, even his grandmother. He had never felt more at home than how it felt to be around Rey, until hearing the Skywalkers, his family, accept him and help him save her. And then, the bond tugged as if someone were pulling on it from the other end, as if they were using it to help them smile.

A warming hand instinctively met his and he opened his eyes. Rey. Her hand was calloused her softer than his and so real, unlike anything he had felt through the bond. She had finally taken his hand, and she was alive and in his arms. Her eyes finally snapped to his, she sat up as if she were simply waking from a dream. He had saved her. This feeling, between them, the warmth, secure and right around her, this was the belonging she had waited for. He was her family, the thoughts came to her as naturally as breathing, this was where she was always meant to be. 

Ben’s heart was racing. Now that she was back, she was looking at him. She had so much weight in that look as she searched his face. The one thing he knew he could see over everything, was love. He knew it because he could feel it. Here, with her so close to him the bond felt like a protective shield and within it, Rey’s finally admitted love radiated off her as she started to smile at him. He couldn’t stop a smile forming on his own face as he blinked back relieved tears, it felt good to smile, at last. He couldn’t remember the last time he had. 

“Ben.” It wasn’t even a question. She looked at him, beaming, and she knew, she knew it was all for her.

Their future showed itself before them in each other’s eyes. Solid and clear, a shared vision, _together._ Her hand travelled upwards to his hair as he placed his own to her neck, resting. She ghosted touches about his face as she thought for a moment. Neither of them knew what to do next. Their eyes glanced at the other’s lips a few times and Ben’s breath hitched. He hadn’t been kissed before and by the looks of it, neither had Rey.

But when her lips tentatively but with rushed excitement met his own, they didn’t have to think about how things were supposed to go between them, it felt instinctive, powerful. Her warm, slightly chapped lips felt like gold against his own. And he felt a thought flow through the bond to him, and for a moment, as he adjusted their position, he panicked and wondered what thoughts he was sending her way, still childishly embarrassed to let her know how much he loved her. But that was quelled by this one thought, brighter than the others, just a simple idea, but one that meant everything. _Home_. 

They broke apart and Rey smiled at him, her face no longer marred by anger or heartbreak. And he grinned at her, fully and he felt free. This was the peace he had so long fought for as Kylo Ren, this was the freedom he had sought since infancy. He thought she was perfect, and only just realised how long he’d wished he could see that smile. She thought he was beautiful. It was enough to make her blush, he looked so young and handsome, his face free of the scar she had given him, free from strain and weariness. He was hers. She had never had someone to call her own. Her new family had become so much bigger now that he was in it.

But Ben had never felt so tired. The life had drained out of him until only a spark remained. Nothing, he thought, that could sustain him much longer than this. But that was okay, because she loved him. He was whole. He was happy, for this one perfect, small, broken moment. He was happy. For as long as she lived, Rey would remember that smile. She had never seen the effect someone could have on another person until she saw her own emotions reflected in his eyes, in his full grin that her thumb traced for a moment. If this was the last thing he felt, he would be at peace forever. He had saved half of his soul. This strong beautiful woman, he had saved and she had saved him back, and loved him, he thought as darkness pooled into his vision and he felt his limbs finally succumb to the peaceful aching tiredness. The last thing he heard was a soft ‘no’, that followed him to the ground. 

-

Ben Solo was not dead. He wasn’t, he had just found her. Rey felt the fabric of his shirt beneath her fingers and she shut her eyes in disbelief. No, not now. The place in her soul that had finally begun to feel full was shut off, cutting her so deeply that she couldn’t comprehend what she couldn’t feel. After everything, this felt like the air was being choked out of her. 

‘Bring him back.’ It started as a hoarse cry until it turned into her screaming into the still-warm material of his shirt. She couldn’t find the will to be angry, if this was the path of a jedi she didn’t want it, she didn’t want to close herself off from this. She wanted him back. That was all that mattered. ‘Ben. Please. Not now.’ 

And then she felt it. A faint pull, weak but there, and so far away. It helped her to get up. It led her back to the Resistance, whose cheers she could only deliver a poor imitation of in return. It didn’t feel the same without Leia, or without the person she gave everything to save. Poe and Finn were a relief to see and as she hugged them she felt their friendship lift her out of the pit but there was a part of her that they couldn’t reach. And a pull to something, somewhere else.

-

“I’ll see you soon, I promise.” She hugged Finn one final time and finally pulled away. After everything, it was hard to let Finn go, they’d only had a day of peace to enjoy before Rey realised she couldn’t ignore this pull in the bond. she could never give up hope while there was a spark of it still within her. “Besides, you have a lot of catching up to do.” 

Rey nodded towards Rose who waved to her, her gaze lingering on Finn with nothing short of uncertainty. 

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t tell that to me, you’re supposed to say you’ll see me soon too!” 

“No, no, I mean Ren- you won’t tell me but I felt it.”

“I know, I’ll explain. There’s just something I have to do.”

“Right. I’ll see you later then.”

“You will, and say bye to Poe for me.” She smiled at him, though it didn’t reach her eyes. And set foot in the Falcon once more. 

-

The pull took her to Tatooine, of all places. 

Rey didn’t like it. It was a place that made her feel something like familiarity for, yet also so incredibly sad and hollow at the same time. This was the home planet of Master Skywalker, of his father. Why here? Why does the force want me to feel more pain?

“It’s alright, Chewie, I’m alright. Thank you, for everything, for coming with me now, you don’t- you deserve-”

Chewie interrupted her with a long growl.

“I think it will, I miss them too, I can’t imagine how much you do. I’ll be back soon, I promise.” She gave him a hug before she left. Rey felt like she would never get used to having a family, people who want to do things for others, for her, without expectation. She just wished that this wouldn’t be for nothing. It couldn’t be she- she didn’t want to go down that path of thinking, not yet, not while there’s the pull, the spark.

She hopped down onto the desert planet, so much like Jakku, she’d never felt closer to Luke, and if she were in a better mood she would’ve laughed at the cruelty of it, of planets like this. 

She found a nearly completely buried farm and felt the echoes of life within it as she sled down the sand, the one thing she had missed from her scavenger days, and retraced the steps of those before her. ‘Let the past die’, Kylo had once said to her, and she had to bury the sabers here. To end the path where it started, where no one would think to look for things so dangerous, so consumed by loss. She felt them drift deep into the earth and it was all she focussed on. It was easier to not let her mind wander to what could’ve been, what hurts the most. His lost future, and hers. She had seen it, was it all just a ploy by the Force? 

And then, “What are you doing?”

That deep voice, laced by amusement and gravely from lack of use. The one that haunted her, had seduced her. She turned as fast as lightspeed. 

“Ben?”

“Rey.”

“You’re a ghost.”

He took a step forward, it wasn’t a question but it was something he needed to answer. He brought his hand to her face, something that still made him flush with nerves even though it felt like something intrinsic, muscle-memory, almost. Rey gasped and tears fell from her eyes, that same electricity, that spark grew to a flame and her very soul felt whole again. All by one touch. 

“I woke up here, in these clothes. I didn’t know what was real.” She grasped onto his sleeve, she hasn’t seen him in colours so pale before, grey and beige and cream, like the visions she’d seen of young Luke. 

“You’re alive.” 

“I’m alive.”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

She almost fell into his embrace. She wasn’t alone. He wasn’t alone. She opened her eyes and blinked onto the binary sunset. They parted and shared another kiss. Finally, Rey got to see another smile. He kissed her forehead and held her close, as if scared to let her go. And she let him because she needed it, the completeness she felt when he was near her. 

She nodded at the horizon and he turned to look at it. She wished she could know when she would no longer feel like crying in relief, in pure happiness. “It’s a horrible planet, but that, there is beautiful.”

“Twin suns I’ve never-”

Ben cut himself off as twin phantoms flickered into existence. Leia and Luke. Rey nodded at them and they beamed back, Ben a picture of longing. 

“Like you said, we’re a dyad, I don’t think even the Force could handle the imbalance of our separation, let alone your family.” 

“Mom-” Ben would never get over those lost years, but seeing Leia there, at peace was enough for now. 

“Rey Skywalker.” She said to him after they were silent for a moment, her eyes still on Luke and Leia, talking as much to them as she was to Ben.

“What’s that?”

“Rey Skywalker, what do you think? They, _you_ are my family now. By my choosing and I want to honour that.”

“Then why not Rey Solo?”

Rey blushed and Leia and Luke laughed and shook their heads. So like Han.

“Alright then. How about Rey Solo-Skywalker. I think you’d suit that name too.”

He smiled again and drew her in. “So is this what it’s like then?”

“What?”

“Belonging.”

Rey pauses for a moment, considering, “Yeah, I think it is.”


End file.
